Rise of Voltron
by Puff the Ninja
Summary: Mari's dream was to travel to space. She wanted nothing more than to soar amongst the stars, following in her older brother's footsteps and becoming a pilot. But she never imagined that her first trip to space would be in a blue lion along with five other guys. **rated T just to be safe**
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

With her parents always working and having no school to attend, Mari found herself wandering the canyons and caves near the Galaxy Garrison. It was dangerous, yes, but Mari had her cell with her and she was a martial arts champion. She was positive she could defend herself if there ever came a time to do so. But she honestly never expected to face any danger on her little expeditions anyways: she was in almost the middle of nowhere, during the middle of the day, and she was fairly close to a military-run academy. Mari hadn't ever seen a single person in the surrounding area before, so she figured she'd be relatively safe. So when she realized that she was being watched one day while exploring a cave, she was rather surprised.

Mari had discovered the cave days ago, but the strange symbols on the walls and the energy of the area kept drawing her back to it. She had begun taking snapshots of the cave drawings to see if she could find anything similar in books at the library—maybe then she could make some sense of their true meanings. But right as she took her last photo for the day, she sensed a presence near the mouth of the cave. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a figure hesitating next to the entrance before they suddenly hid from view.

 _Great_ , Mari thought dryly, readjusting the mask she wore over her mouth and nose to prevent inhalation of any dust or dirt. _Holy crow, what if it's someone from the Garrison? Please don't let it be an officer. Mom and dad are gonna kill me if they find out I've been out here…Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away?_

Several minutes passed without the individual making a move, and she frowned to herself; whoever it was had no intention of leaving any time soon. Sighing, Mari stashed her phone and bent down to pack up her belongings. She could feel the stranger's piercing gaze zeroed in on her, watching her carefully as she moved. Slinging her bag over one shoulder, she straightened herself and casually brushed the dirt from her pants before suddenly bolting towards the back of the cave.

Just as she hid behind a large group of boulders near the back of the cave, Mari could hear the stranger's alarmed footsteps as they entered the cavern. She held her breath, her whole body tensing as she waited for them to come around the corner. When she could practically hear his breathing, Mari made her move, whisking her leg across the grimy floor and sweeping the stranger off his feet. He fell forward and he would've landed face-first on the rough cave floor if he hadn't thrust out his hands to catch himself. Now with the higher ground, Mari wasted no time in pouncing on him, driving her knee into his back and pulling one of his arms out from under him. This time, his face collided with the floor and Mari could hear him cursing as she had him pinned and immobilized.

"Hey!" the kid hissed, his voice slightly muffled as his face was smushed against the dirt floor of the cave. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think _you're_ doing?" Mari growled back. "What are you, some kind of stalker?"

"No!" the guy snapped.

"Then why were you spying on me then?" she demanded. "Are you from the Garrison or something?"

"No," he huffed, struggling under her grip. "And I wasn't spying on you. Will you just let me up and explain?"

Mari contemplated the idea for a moment. Now that she had a better look at the guy, she could tell he was just another teenager, not an officer from the Garrison and certainly not a student there either. The kid was glaring at her intensely from out of the corner of his eyes and Mari scowled before releasing him. She took several steps away from him, making sure that she was closer to the cave entrance in case she needed to make a break for it.

"You're freaking crazy," he muttered, standing up and brushing himself off. Mari glowered at him and went rigid, now noticing the dagger that hung on his hip. She braced herself, waiting for the moment when he unsheathed his weapon and attacked, but no such thing happened. Instead, he crossed his arms defensively and glared back at her.

"Well? Start explaining," Mari prompted coldly. "You can start by telling me who you are."

"I could be asking you the same thing," he said. "You're acting like I just broke into your house when you have no more of a right to be here than I do."

Mari said nothing and stood her ground. The kid finally rolled his eyes and relented. "I'm Keith. I live near here, and I've been exploring these caves for a while," he explained curtly.

"Really? You live near here, out in the middle of the desert?" Mari raised an eyebrow skeptically and Keith just scowled.

"Your turn," he huffed in annoyance.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm Mariko, but my friends call me Mari."

"You a Garrison student?"

"Do I _look_ like a Garrison student?"

"Then why are you out here?"

"I've been studying these markings in my free time," Mari explained, gesturing to the cave walls. "Just like you, apparently."

"Why?"

"I…can't really explain it," she admitted hesitantly. "At first it was out of boredom, but then it was like…some _energy_ was…"

"Telling you to search?" Keith finished, and she looked at him in surprise.

"You've felt it too then?" she asked and he nodded. The two stared at each other for a moment before averting their attention to the cave drawings.

"What do you think we're supposed to be searching for?" Mari wondered aloud, frowning as her eyes fell on one of the blue lion depictions.

"I'm not really sure," Keith admitted. "But I have some theories."

"Same here," she said, smiling wryly. "I'd be happy to share them anytime too."

Keith looked at her sourly, most likely still bitter about her attacking him. But before he could respond, Mari's phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.

"I guess our discussion will have to wait," she sighed after reading her mother's text telling her to come home for dinner. "I've gotta get going now, but maybe we can meet up tomorrow or something?"

"I'm not really interested," Keith muttered, turning away from her with his arms still crossed indignantly.

Mari rolled her eyes and looked at him for a moment before taking out a small piece of paper and scrawling something on it. "Well, if you ever want to talk to someone about it, just give me a call," she said, holding it out to him once she had finished.

Keith glanced at the number and almost did a double-take when he read the name she had written down: "Mariko Shirogane".

"Your last name is 'Shirogane'?" he said almost disbelievingly, taking the paper from her. "Like Takashi Shirogane? As in the pilot from the Kerberos mission?"

"Yeah," she answered bitterly. "He's my brother."


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

 _"You're…going all the way to Kerberos?"_

 _"_ _Don't look so bummed out about it," Shiro chuckled and Mari pouted._

 _"_ _No fair. I wish I was a pilot already."_

 _"_ _Don't worry. You'll get your chance soon enough. You've enrolled in the Space Exploration program at the Garrison, remember?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, but I want to be doing all these fun missions already."_

 _"_ _I know you're excited. But remember, patience yields—"_

 _"_ _Focus. I know, I know," Mari sighed before putting on a slight smile._

 _Shiro grinned and ruffled his little sister's hair. "Just make sure you don't get ahead of yourself, okay?"_

* * *

 _"_ _Oh! Professor Montgomery. I didn't expect you to drop by my class today. Are you here to inspect our new recruits?"_

 _"_ _Not today, I'm afraid. Mariko Shirogane, Iverson wants to see you."_

 _Mari looked up from her notes in surprise at the man who had interrupted their lesson. He was standing rigidly in the doorway, his eyes narrowing impatiently at her._

 _"_ _NOW, young lady," he urged and a few of her classmates snickered. "And take your things with you."_

 _"_ _Okay, okay," she muttered, frowning as she snapped her notebook shut and stuffed it into her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she stood from her seat and met Montgomery at the door. He nodded curtly to her teacher before briskly turning and heading down the corridor._

 _The pair walked in uneasy silence towards the commander's office and Mari wracked her brain for possible reasons she could be in trouble. Did they find out that she, Jia, and Magdalena had snuck off campus last weekend to watch that drift race? Good lord, she hoped not._

 _"_ _Um…Why exactly does Commander Iverson need to see me?" she asked, casting Montgomery a hesitant look._

 _"_ _You'll find out when you get there," the professor simply replied and Mari's frown deepened._

 _When they reached the office, the door slid open and Montgomery gestured for Mari to enter. She gave him one last suspicious look before cautiously stepping over the threshold, the door shutting silently behind her. Inside, the feared commander sat behind a hefty desk, his bad eye screwed shut and his usual scowl contorting his face. Standing in front of his desk was her father._

 _"_ _D-dad!" she stammered, blinking at him in surprise. "What are you doing here?"_

 _Her father's jaw was set and his hair was unusually unkempt. Dark bags were set under his red rimmed eyes and his voice wavered as he spoke to her. "Mariko. Pack up all of your things. We're going home."_

 _Mari just stared at him, unused to seeing her usually stoic, yet kindhearted father in such a disheveled state. "What?"_

 _"_ _We're going home," he repeated. "Your time at the Garrison is over."_

 _"_ _Dad, what are you talking about?" Mari tried to laugh despite the building dread inside of her._

 _"_ _Your father just completed the paperwork," Iverson finally spoke up, his voice gruff and his tone harsh. "As of today you are no longer a cadet at the Galaxy Garrison."_

 _"_ _What?!" Mari shrilled incredulously, her anger levels beginning to rise drastically. "Dad! No, no, no! I just got started here! You can't pull me out of the program! Why would you do that?"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry," her father said, his voice rising ever so slightly. "But your mother and I are just doing what's best for you."_

 _"_ _This isn't what's best for me!" she snapped back, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "I've wanted to come here since I was a kid and I'm not letting you guys ruin that for me!"_

 _"_ _Mariko, enough with this selfishness."_

 _"_ _I'm not being selfish! I'm going to be a pilot and you can't—"_

 _"_ _ENOUGH, MARIKO!" her father suddenly shouted, taking her off guard as he reached out to clutch her by the shoulders. "I don't want to lose you too!"_

 _…_ _Too?_

 _Tears were streaming down her father's face and his dark eyes that matched her own were full of such intense terror and agony. He was scaring her, and Mari looked at him through wide and alarmed eyes._

 _"_ _Dad, what's going on?" she whispered, her voice quivering with fear._

 _Seeing her confusion, he looked over at Iverson with a frown. "You didn't tell her?" he said, his tone low and accusing. "It's been several days, Iverson."_

 _The commander sighed and looked slightly embarrassed but said nothing. Anger flaring behind his eyes, her father grit his teeth before turning back to her._

 _"_ _Mariko…" he said quietly, his voice on the verge of breaking. "The Kerberos crew has gone missing. The chances of them still being alive are slim. The Holts…Takashi, they're…they're dead."_

* * *

As soon as Mari had started the countdown timer on the last explosive, she headed straight for where Keith was waiting on his hoverbike.

"Timers are set," she said, grabbing his outstretched hand as he pulled her onto the back of the vehicle. They speed off in the opposite direction and Mari mentally counted down to herself. "Okay, we should be ready to go in three…two…one—"

A series of explosions set off behind them, the vibrations in the ground causing the bike to lurch a bit; she still couldn't believe Keith had singlehandedly made such deadly devices. Not too far off, the Garrison officials abandoned their makeshift lab and took their vehicles to check out the cause of the detonations. Everything was going according to plan.

"I'd say we've got about ten minutes until they come back," Keith said and he parked behind a large boulder near the lab site. "Stay here on look out."

Mari frowned at him and began to protest, but he had already hopped off the bike and was headed towards the lab.

"' _Stay here on look out_ ,'" she repeated mockingly before rolling her eyes. "Geez, why does he always jump into things without my consent?"

Suddenly, three teenage boys came skidding down the hill nearby and Mari watched in alarm as they sprinted towards the dome that Keith had entered just minutes ago. They wore casual attire and were too young to be Garrison officials. Were they just curious students? She sat there for a moment, observing as they entered the lab. Minutes later, everyone emerged along with another individual who was being held limply by Keith and one of the three strangers.

Mari's heart nearly stopped as she registered the identity of the unconscious form in their arms. A years worth of pain and the heart-wrenching fear that he was dead came flooding back to her as she gaped at her brother. Takashi was alive. He was _alive_! It was almost too good to be true. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she sat there numbly, too shocked and overwhelmed to move.

"T-Takashi…he's…you…"

"I told you to stay on look out," Keith huffed, shooting her an angry look and snapping her out of her stupor. Her face heating up furiously, Mari blinked away the tears before prying her eyes away from Shiro so she could glare at Keith.

"Oh, I'm sorry. And what was I supposed to do if someone was coming, huh genius?" she shot back. "Was I supposed to make a stupid bird call or something to alert you? Hm, I don't know because _you dove right into this without a plan_!"

"Will you just shut up and move over?!" Keith snapped and Mari grit her teeth angrily before scooting backwards so he could sit at the front.

"Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" the largest of the guys inquired hurriedly, but before Mari or Keith could answer, he plopped himself down on the back of the bike, causing the whole thing to jolt dangerously and nearly throw everyone off.

"Ooh! Well, hello there," the boy helping to support Shiro greeted Mari suddenly, abandoning his task of helping the unconscious pilot safely get onto the hovercraft as he grinned at her. "The name's Lance. And you are?"

"Pissed off," Mari growled back in response and Lance grimaced at her hostile demeanor. "What are you doing? Help him get on!"

"Okay, okay! Geez..." Lance grumbled and she helped him heft Shiro into an upright position.

"Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?" the smallest of the three strangers asked with concern. He wore glasses and pushed them further up the bridge of his nose before climbing up behind Shiro, holding onto him so he wouldn't slide off.

"No," Keith answered, his tone indicating that he was getting more irritated by the second. But it was too late to kick the intruding trio off now; the Garrison officials were coming back to the site and they had spotted the group of teens. Keith revved the engine and the bike roared to life before speeding off into the desert.

"Hey, we did all fit," the largest boy in the back grinned, clearly impressed as the hovercraft zipped through the desert.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Lance complained, glancing back at the Garrison trucks that were gaining on them.

"We could toss out some nonessential weight," Keith suggested.

"Oh, right!" Lance began looking around for something to toss and Mari rolled her eyes as Lance caught on. "…Okay, so that was an insult. I get it."

"Big Man, lean left!" Keith instructed and the guy in the back did as he was told. The bike veered violently to the left and the abrupt movement caused several of their pursers to crash as a result.

"Aw, man! Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery!" the 'Big Man' whimpered, squinting through the darkness at the wrecked vehicles. "No, no. He's fine."

"Big Man, lean right!" Keith ordered next, and the entire craft flew from one cliff side to another. All but one truck managed to safely make the jump after them.

Almost everyone was screaming at this point, and even Mari's heart was racing due to Keith's erratic and evasive driving. Surprisingly, no one had been thrown off yet, but she wasn't willing to take any chances and settled on holding onto Keith tightly just in case.

"Guys! Is that a cliff up ahead?" the 'Big Man' stammered, suddenly pointing ahead of them at the steep drop off. When they showed no sign of slowing down, the others began to shout their protests of "Oh, no, no, no!"

But Keith only smirked and answered, "Yep," before they completely flew over the edge. Their screams were lost in the rush of the air around them as they fell, everyone clinging onto each other for dear life so they wouldn't be tossed from the bike.

"What are you doing? You're going to kill us all!" Lance shouted over the din as they plummeted towards the ground.

"Shut up and trust me!" Keith replied with annoyed confidence.

At the very last minute, he shifted several gears on the bike, causing it to straighten and hover over the dusty ground rather than crashing into it. Then they speed off into the night, leaving their final pursuer behind on the top of the cliff.

* * *

When Shiro had regained consciousness in Keith's little shack of a house, Mari cried. Completely overwhelmed with the reality of his return, she spewed forth a garbled mess of angry swears—both in English and in Japanese—along with a ton of 'I missed you's and 'I love you's in between sobs. When she couldn't catch her breath anymore, Shiro had taken her outside to calm down, holding her closely and hushing her gently as she let out a whole year's worth of pain and loneliness.

By the time the sun began to rise, Mari had finally settled down and she embarrassedly brushed away the last of her tears as Keith approached the siblings.

"It's good to have you back," he smiled slightly, putting one friendly hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"It's good to be back," Shiro said, giving him an uneasy smile in return. "I was surprised to see you with my sister. How did you two meet?"

"We met not too long ago outside of the Garrison," Mari piped up and Keith nodded in confirmation.

"I see," Shiro said. Then, "Wait, 'outside of the Garrison'? Mari, you're not supposed to leave without permission. Please don't tell me you snuck out."

Mari's jaw set and her gaze was steely as she looked at him. "I didn't. I don't go to the Garrison anymore," she muttered and Shiro's eyes widened in concern. "Mom and dad got really scared when you went missing and…they pulled me out of the Space Exploration program."

"Mari," Shiro said, surprise and unwanted pity written all over his face. "That's…I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't matter anymore," she quickly brushed it off, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. "I've gotten over it."

Shiro knew her well enough to know that that wasn't true. Mari loved space. It had been her dream to go there ever since she was little. Being pulled out of the program must've crushed her.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but she quickly put on a strained smile and continued, "But that's not important right now. Holy crow…I'm so happy you're back! You've got a lot of explaining to do, Takashi!"

Shiro couldn't help but smile to himself; with that scolding tone she sounded just like their mother. Gosh, he had missed his family.

"Start with how you got this white tuff," she said, playfully flicking his hair. "Or how you earned that scar on your face. Or…"

Mari's voice faltered as her eyes fell on his metal arm and Shiro winced at her mortified expression. She hesitated, pulling her eyes away from his prosthetic to meet his gaze.

"Everyone said you were dead, Takashi," she said, her voice suddenly quiet. "What…what happened to you this whole past year? Where were you?"

Sighing, Shiro embraced her tightly, closing his eyes as he held her. He had missed her so, so much. There wasn't a day that went by when he hadn't thought about her, wondering what she was up to, how she was reacting to his disappearance.

"I wish I could tell you," he whispered sadly. "I'm sorry…My head's still pretty scrambled."

"It's fine," Mari murmured, her voice muffled as she spoke into his shoulder. "Just go slow. Tell us what you do remember."

Taking a deep breath, Shiro reluctantly pulled away from her and stared out at the dry desert landscape grimly.

"I…I was on an alien ship," he began, grimacing as he struggled to recall. "Somehow, I escaped, but…it's all a blur. How did you two know to come save me when I crashed?"

"That's a whole other story," Mari sighed.

"You should come see this," Keith suggested, and the trio headed back inside.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!**

**For anyone wondering, Mari's about 17 years old, making her and Shiro 8 years apart.** 

* * *

Keith unveiled the bulletin board on the wall where he and Mari had been compiling their notes, pictures, and maps of the surrounding area. Shiro, Lance, and the other two boys stared at the board in awe and slight confusion.

" _What_ have you two been working on?" Shiro asked, eyes roaming over the compilation of information slowly and uncertainly.

"It's a lot, yeah," Mari shrugged sheepishly. "But it's…kinda hard to explain. When I was pulled out of Space Exploration program I was…I just didn't know what to do with myself. I don't know why, but I started wandering around the canyons. I didn't mean to come back as many times as I did, but…I felt like I had to be there, like I had to look for something. That's when I met Keith."

She jabbed a thumb at him and he nodded in confirmation before adding his own input, "After getting booted from the Garrison I was kinda… _lost_ , and I found myself drawn out to this place. It was like something…some energy, was telling me to search."

Shiro glanced between Mari and Keith in concern. "For what?" he finally asked.

"We don't know," Mari admitted. "We found some pretty weird stuff, but we couldn't make heads or tails of it."

"We both managed to stumble across this area though," Keith said, pointing to a circled spot on the map labeled 'Energy Source!'. "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night."

"And then you showed up," Mari said, nodding to Shiro. The siblings stared at each other for a moment, a year's worth of unspoken feelings hovering between them. Mari was the first to break away her gaze, huffing tiredly as she shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. Sighing, Shiro diverted his attention to the other three boys in the room.

"I should thank you all for getting me out," he said. "Lance, right?"

Shiro held out his robotic prosthetic to the boy in question, and Lance hesitated before smiling and confidently shaking his outstretched hand.

"The nervous guy's Hunk," the boy with glasses explained, taking Shiro's hand as well. "I'm Pidge."

"So, _who_ is the lovely lady standing next to Mullet over there?" Lance asked, putting on a winning smile as Mari frowned at him.

"She's my little sister, Mariko," Shiro explained. "She goes by Mari most of the time though."

Lance's eyes lit up excitedly. "Whoa! I didn't know you had a little sister!" he grinned.

"Not many people do," she muttered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady," he said, elegantly bowing to her like a prince.

"Please, don't _ever_ do that again," Mari cringed, taking a few cautious steps back to put more distance between herself and the flirtatious male.

"So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?" Pidge asked Shiro, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces."

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt," Hunk cut in. "But, back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?" He looked around nervously, as if expecting the extraterrestrials to be listening in and preparing to break down the door.

"I can't really put it together," Shiro sighed, struggling to recall. "I remember the word 'Voltron'…It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."

"Well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff and I found this picture. Look, it's his girlfriend," Hunk chuckled, pulling out a picture from Pidge's backpack and showing the group.

"Hey, give me that!" the smaller boy suddenly intervened, snatching the photo and his bag out of Hunk's hands. "What were you doing in my stuff?"

"I—well, I was looking for a candy bar," Hunk admitted. "But then, I started reading his diary—"

"WHAT?!" Pidge shrilled before swiftly retrieving his notebook from Hunk as well.

"—and I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line."

"Fraun…who?" Keith tilted his head in confusion.

"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element," Hunk explained. "Only this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this 'Voltron', and I think I might be able to build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger counter."

"Hunk, you big gassy genius!" Lance grinned in approval and Hunk smiled.

"It's pretty fascinating, really," he said. "The wavelength looks like this."

He fished a piece of paper out of his pocket and displayed it to the group. A quickly drawn graph had been sketched on it, a jagged red line stretching across the page.

"Give me that," Keith said, plucking the paper straight out of Hunk's hands. He brought it up to the picture of the canyon walls, and comparing the two, everyone realized that the line perfectly traced the rocky formations.

"We've gotta check this out," Mari beamed in excitement and everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky," Lance noted as he glanced around at the dusty rock formations suspiciously.

"I'm getting a reading," Hunk announced, his eyes glued to his 'Voltron Geiger counter' as he began to navigate through the canyon.

As the counter began to go off the fritz, the landscape began to become more and more familiar to Mari. They were led to the mouth of the cave with the strange markings and she and Keith took the lead as everyone entered the dim space.

"What are these?" Shiro finally asked as he and the others stared in awe at the drawings etched into the walls.

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about," Keith answered. "They're everywhere around here."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mari watched as Lance curiously inspected one of the depictions. He squinted at it for a moment before brushing off the dirt and dust to get a better look. Suddenly, every carving began glowing blue and Lance stepped back in slight fear.

"Whoa," Mari breathed in awe as she took in the glowing markings. "This is new."

"They've never done that before," Keith agreed with mild surprise.

Beneath their feet, the ground began to shake and crack but before any of them could jump out of the way, the cave floor crumbled and collapsed beneath them. Everyone screamed as they fell down a watery slope, but the terror was short lived as they landed roughly into a shallow pool of water.

"Ugh…" Mari groaned, struggling to disentangle herself from the pile of boys. She brushed her dark, and now wet, locks out of her eyes before glaring accusingly in Lance's direction. "Lance, what did you do?"

"I don't know!" he exclaimed defensively, standing quickly to put some distance between them. "I was just…" His voice trailed off and his jaw dropped as he took notice of the giant robotic lion sitting several yards away, the whole thing completely encased in some sort of energy field.

"They _are_ everywhere," Lance finally whispered to himself, unable to take his eyes off the metallic beast.

"Is this it?" Pidge wondered aloud as the rest of the group picked themselves off the ground to gawk at the lion. "Is this the Voltron?"

"It must be," Shiro concluded.

"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here," Keith said, moving closer to the lion curiously. "Looks like there's a forcefield around it."

"Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?" Lance asked, looking at the beast from different angles as they moved closer.

"…No," Shiro raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.

"Yeah…" Lance said, clearly ignoring him. "The eyes are totally following me."

"I wonder how we get through this…" Keith muttered to himself, placing both hands on the forcefield. It rippled in response to his touch, but it's form remained impenetrable.

"Maybe you just have to knock," Lance suggested half jokingly as he rapped twice on the barrier.

As soon as Lance had touched the forcefield, it shimmered before dissolving completely. The lion's yellow eyes glowed to life and the markings beneath its feet emitted a blue light. The energy it released now was unlike anything Mari had ever felt before, and multiple images suddenly flashed through her mind. Five lions soared through the sky, creating one giant and powerful robot: Voltron.

"Whoa…" everyone gasped in unison, having seen the same vision.

"Uh, did everyone just see that?" Lance squeaked.

"Voltron is a robot!" Hunk exclaimed excitedly. "Voltron is a huge, HUGE awesome robot!"

"And this thing is only one part of it!" Pidge added in awe. "I wonder where the rest of them are…"

"This is what they're looking for," Shiro concluded grimly.

"Incredible," Keith managed.

"It's amazing," Mari nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, the giant beast began to move on its own, and Pidge and Hunk whimpered as it lowered its head to the ground in front of them. It opened its massive jaws to reveal an entrance, and a devious look crossed Lance's face before he grinned and sprinted straight into the lion's head.

"Uh…should we stop him?" Mari turned to Shiro unsurely, but before he could reply Hunk and Pidge scrambled up the ramp, disappearing inside the lion's head.

"Well, it's too late to turn back now," Shiro shrugged helplessly and she frowned as he and Keith hurried after the others.

"Yes, enter the strange alien lion thing. It's _totally_ safe to do that," Mari muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest out of habit before following them into the lion.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender! ** 

* * *

The entire lion was a ship, the inside of the head containing a pilot's seat and a control panel. By the time the others had caught up to Lance, he had already seated himself in the solitary chair and the controls had been activated.

"All right!" he grinned as the front window screen glowed to life. "Very nice!"

"I've never seen tech this advanced before," Mari said, looking around at the mechanisms curiously. "It's awesome."

"Ah, finally impressed with me, are you?" Lance looked over his shoulder to give her a smirk and her eye twitched in annoyance.

"I'm impressed with the ship, not you," she replied coolly and Lance deflated a bit.

"Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now," Hunk spoke up nervously, hoping the others would acknowledge how strange and ridiculous their current situation was.

"Whoa, did you guys just hear that?" Lance suddenly exclaimed, looking at the others expectantly.

"Hear what?" Keith asked.

"I-I think it's talking to me," he said hesitantly. "Hmm…Um…"

Lance squinted closely at the controls before pressing a few buttons on the central panel. The lion stood up abruptly and let out a loud roar, startling everyone and prompting them to cautiously grab onto something stable so they wouldn't topple over. Clinging to the back of Lance's seat, Mari frowned in annoyance as she was uncomfortably smushed between her older brother and Keith.

"Why didn't they put more chairs in this thing?" she muttered to herself.

"Okay, got it," Lance grinned in excitement as he took ahold of the two control sticks. "Now, let's try _this_."

He suddenly thrust both gears forward and the blue lion shot out of the caves, breaking through several layers of rock until it burst out into the open air. It did several unannounced dips and spins, totally unconcerned that its passengers were screaming and clinging to each other for dear life so that they wouldn't be thrown about like rag dolls.

"Holy crow, Lance!" Mari shouted over the shrieks. "Get this thing under control!"

"I'm trying!" he promised just as the lion performed a nauseating flip in the air.

"You are—the worst—pilot—EVER!" Keith barely gasped through all the chaos.

After serval more dives and rolls, the lion returned to the ground, running at a steady pace along the canyon floor near the Garrison.

"Isn't this awesome?" Lance exclaimed, his glee like a kid's on Christmas.

"Make it stop!" Hunk begged, looking sick. "Make it stop!"

"I'm not making it do anything!" Lance grinned. "It's like it's on autopilot!"

"Well, that's no reason to be concerned," Mari commented sarcastically and Lance cast her an annoyed look.

Suddenly the lion shot into the sky, bursting straight through the clouds and preparing to enter the upper layers of the atmosphere.

"Where are you going?" Keith demanded.

"I just said it's on autopilot!" Lance retorted. "It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're suppose to stop it."

"What did it say, _exactly_?" Pidge asked, frowning impatiently.

"Well, it's not like it's saying words," Lance rolled his eyes. "More like putting ideas into my brain…kind of."

"Why are we still letting _you_ drive this thing?!" Mari exclaimed incredulously and she received another sour look from their pilot.

"Well if this is the weapon they're coming for, couldn't we just, I don't know, _give_ it to them?" Hunk suggested fearfully. "Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, lion. Nothing personal."

"You don't understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path," Shiro spoke up in all seriousness. "There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."

Everyone frowned disapprovingly at Hunk and the big guy shrunk back sheepishly. "…Oh," he squeaked. "Never mind then."

As the blue lion broke through the final layer of Earth's atmosphere, Mari couldn't help but gawk at the scene laid out before her. Space: it was where she had wanted to go for so long now. She had never imagined that she would be experiencing her dream so soon, in a blue lion and surrounded by four strange guys and her brother no less. Gazing out at the dazzling stars and the vastness of it all, being so close she could almost touch it, Mari's heart skipped a beat.

"I…I'm actually here," she whispered out loud, her eyes glued to the front window, wide and full of excitement as she took in their surroundings.

"Welcome to space, Mari," Shiro said, and he couldn't help but smile as a grin lit up her face. But before they could appreciate the moment any further, a gigantic warship appeared in front of them.

"Holy crow, is that really an alien ship?!" Hunk cried out in fear.

"They found me," Shiro whispered, his dread apparent in his tone.

The alien aircraft immediately locked onto them and began to relentlessly fire purple laser blasts at the lion.

"Lance, get us out of here!" Mari urged, her joy fading in the blink of an eye as shots rained down on them. He immediately pulled back on the control sticks and the blue lion began to nimbly dodge the deadly beams.

"Okay, I think I know what to do!" Lance finally decided after enduring several minutes of lion laser tag.

"Be careful, man!" Pidge advised. "This isn't a simulator!"

"Well, that's good," Lance chuckled. "I always wreck the simulator."

"We're gonna die," Mari groaned.

"Oh, come on! Have a bit more faith in me, Mari," he said, dashingly beaming at her.

"Like _heck_ I will until you figure out how to drive this thing properly!" she snapped back furiously, his charms having no effect on her whatsoever.

"Geez, okay, okay!" Lance huffed and he quickly moved into the proper position before pushing the left control stick forward. The lion fired a stunning blue blast of searing energy from its mouth, making a large and explosive gash in the side of the alien ship.

"Let's try _this._ " Lance pulled down on the left stick this time. In response, the lion pounced on the craft, digging its claws into the metal and leaving another fiery slash in the hull of the hostile spacecraft.

"Nice job, Lance!" Shiro complimented and said pilot beamed proudly.

"Okay," he said, turning the lion around. "I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet."

Moving at an incredible speed, the blue beast flew deeper into outer space, the alien warship right on its tail.

"Oh, no!" Hunk exclaimed.

"They're gaining on us!" Pidge warned.

"It's weird," Lance frowned as he ignored them. "They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing."

"Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is _good_?" Hunk groaned. "I am not on board with this new direction, guys!"

"Where are we?" Keith huffed in annoyance.

"Edge of the solar system," Shiro realized, peering out one of the side windows. "There's Kerberos."

"No way," Mari said, blinking in disbelief as they passed the celestial object. "We're already this far out?"

"It takes months for our ships to get out this far!" Pidge exclaimed. "We got out here in five seconds!"

Mari had seen images of Kerberos before, but those photographs paled in comparison to the real deal. The blue moon looked much more vivid and gorgeous up close an in person, and Mari couldn't help but gape at it until it was out of site.

"You're gonna catch flies," Keith muttered next to her, a small smirk forming on his face. Instantly snapping her mouth shut, Mari scowled at him, but before she could stomp on his foot to express her irritation with him, a large swirling portal materialized in front of the lion.

"What is that?" Hunk inquired suspiciously.

"This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there!" Lance answered, sounding a bit nervous himself.

"Where does it go?" Pidge asked.

"I-I don't know," Lance admitted unsurely. "Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?"

"Whatever's happening, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it," Shiro decided. He glanced at Mari standing next to him and she just frowned at him worriedly. Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Shiro added, "But we're a team now. We should decide together."

Everyone exchanged knowing looks before nodding to Lance in approval. Shrugging to himself, their pilot sighed, "All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow."

With that, the lion surged forward and shot straight through the swirling void.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Sorry for not uploading sooner! I had and essay to write last night. Anyhow, I created a profile for Mari and posted it on my profile so feel free to check it out if you're curious. As the story goes on and her character develops I'll be editing/adding to it.

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

The lion moved through the portal with ease, the group inside suffering a few intense moments of rapid air pressure change. But it was over in seconds, and in no time at all the lion shot through another opening, bringing them to a completely different galaxy.

"Whoa," Lance breathed as everyone took in their new surroundings. "That was…"

"Insane?" Mari suggested. "Amazing, yet so incredibly dangero—"

Before she could finish, Hunk made an awful gagging sound and he vomited all over the floor next to Lance. "Ugh…So sorry," he groaned before doubling over and hurling again.

"I'm just surprised it took this long," Pidge mused and Mari face palmed.

"I don't recognize any of these constellations," Shiro frowned, gazing out at the stars in front of them. "We must be a long, _long_ way from Earth."

"The lion seems to want to go to this planet," Lance relayed as they headed towards an Earth-like orb. "I think…I think it's going home."

The outside of the lion heated up quickly as it began its shaky descent into the planet's atmosphere. Everyone either clung to Lance or his chair so they wouldn't be knocked off their feet, much to his annoyance.

"Guys, personal space!" he snapped. "Although, I don't mind Mari being this close, heh heh…Ow! Hey!"—Mari had flicked the back of his head—"Hunk your breath is killing me!"

"Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?" Hunk exclaimed, ignoring Lance's comment. "Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?"

"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance pointed out.

"I don't know if you noticed, but we're _in_ an alien warship," Keith frowned in annoyance.

"Oh, are you scared?" Lance smirked at him.

"With you at the helm? Terrified," he replied bluntly.

"All right, knock it off," Shiro ordered sternly, his authoritative tone one that Mari was all too familiar with. "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together."

"So, what do we do?" Pidge asked.

"First, we find out where we're headed," he decided. "Lance?"

"I…don't know," their pilot admitted. "I'm sorry, the lion's not talking to me anymore…Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something."

A faint whining noise had come out of nowhere from within the ship and everyone looked around for its source.

"I'm hearing it too," Keith said.

"What _is_ that?" Mari frowned slightly

"It's, uh—It's kinda of a—high-pitched, squeal?" Hunk guessed just as the noise exploded into an obnoxious fart.

"Whoa!" Keith hissed as everyone reeled back and covered their noses

"Oh, come on, Lance!" Shiro scolded.

"Ugh!" Hunk gagged, trying not to hurl again.

"That's not how you pick up girls, you know!" Mari huffed, trying her hardest not to inhale the noxious gas now hanging in the air of the cockpit.

"But seriously," Lance grinned, obviously proud of himself nonetheless. "There's a castle up ahead."

As the lion approached the stronghold, it slowed in its descent and everyone stared at the building in awed silence. The castle seemed to react to the lion's presence, glowing as the metallic beast flew closer. The lion landed nimbly in front of the main entrance and lowered its head to let the humans disembark, but everyone hesitated and looked to Shiro for directions.

"Keep your guard up," he advised them.

"Something wrong?" Pidge asked.

"My crew was captured by aliens once," he said grimly. "I'm not going to let it happen again."

Once everyone had safely gotten off, the lion stood up again and let out a loud roar, startling them.

"No, no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!" Hunk cried, ducking and waiting in fear for the beast to snap him up. But the lion simply stood there as the castle doors glimmered and slid open for the group to enter.

"…Oh, the door is open," Hunk realized sheepishly before glancing at the lion apologetically. "Guess I was wrong about you."

Walking closely together, the team cautiously ventured into the dark castle, silently staring at the interior in awe. As they stumbled upon a set of stairs, Hunk suddenly broke the silence, calling out, "Helloooo?"

The echoey halls amplified his voice to sound like a shout and everyone bristled in alarm before looking at him in annoyance while he simply shrugged.

"From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger," Pidge observed quietly, still hesitant to make noise in such a quiet atmosphere.

Suddenly, a blue light shone down on them from the ceiling, completely surrounding the group in a misty beam of energy.

"Hold for identity scan," a computerized voice intoned from a speaker hidden somewhere in the vast room.

"Why are we here?" Shiro inquired of the voice while everyone was individually scanned. "What do you want with us?"

There was no answer. Instead, the castle was illuminated as if someone had flicked on a light switch. A long hallway lay before them, its lamps lighting up one at a time.

"I guess we're going that way," Pidge concluded.

* * *

Guided by the blue lights on the walls, the group walked down a series of twisting halls and climbed a couple flights of stairs before arriving at a large, circular room. Several pillars circled the edges of the room, glowing dimly and humming gently.

"Where are we?" Lance wondered, taking in the vast space.

"It's…some kind of control room," Pidge concluded, examining a panel standing in the center of the floor. Strange symbols suddenly appeared on its surface and a hissing sound emitted from one side of the room. Surrounded by wisps of white steam, two oval-shaped pods rose up from the floor; looking closer, Mari realized that there were people inside.

"Are these guys…dead?" Hunk squeaked nervously, cowering behind the center control panel.

"Well, don't jinx it!" Mari shushed him, already steeling herself for whatever horrors the pods contained.

The blue glass on one of the chambers quickly dissolved, and Mari winced as she waited for a decaying body to tumble onto the floor. But instead or a corpse, an elegantly dressed elvish-looking woman stood inside. Her brilliant blue eyes suddenly flew open and she startled as she cried out, "Father!"

She reached out desperately in front of her, only for her knees to buckle. Lance wisely caught her as she fell and the woman looked up at him in confusion. A goofy grin spread across his flushed face at the close interaction, and he quickly put on a sparkling smile.

"Hello," Lance greeted smoothly.

"Who are you?" the woman inquired, frowning at him slightly. "Where am I?"

"I'm Lance," he answered. "And you're right here in my arms."

"What. A. Playboy," Mari muttered, crossing her arms as she watched the two observantly.

"Your ears…" the woman began slowly, inspecting his carefully.

"Yeah?" Lance asked a bit self-consciously.

"They're hideous," she decided, cringing as she pulled away from him. "What's _wrong_ with them?"

"Nothing's wrong with them!" he snapped, taking obvious offense. "They heard exactly what you said about them!"

But before Lance could continue, the woman suddenly grabbed his ear and one of his arms and forcefully turned him around before driving him to his knees.

"Who are you?" she demanded as Lance squirmed and whimpered in pain. "Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?"

"A giant blue lion brought us here!" Lance hurriedly answered. "That's all we know!"

"How do _you_ have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?" she scoffed, releasing Lance and looking around the room expectantly, taking note of the other human strangers. "What are you all doing here? Unless…How long has it been?"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said slowly, carefully. "Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help."

The woman hesitated, frowning slightly at them. Finally she said, "I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep."

Allura approached the control center and a holographic screen materialized as her hands hovered over the panel. "Okay," Pidge said in surprise. "That's how that works."

The second pod that had risen from the floor suddenly released its inhabitant, a male with matching elvish-ears and a fancy mustache. He stared at the group of humans for a moment before gasping in horror and shouting, "Enemy combatants!"

He leapt out of his pod to pounce on Lance, but the younger male swiftly moved out of the way, causing the mustached man to fall to the floor. "Quiznak!" the man cursed, trying to regain his balance. "You're lucky I have a case of the old 'sleep chamber knees'. Otherwise, I'd take your head like _this_ , wrap you up like so, and one, two, three—sleepy time!" he said, demonstrating with several hand motions.

"Well, before you did that I'd _huah_! _Ha_! _Heyah_!" Lance said, slicing through the air with one hand and demonstrating a sloppy crane move. "Like that."

"Oh, really! Well how could you do that when I've already come at you with this: _HA HA HA HYAH_!" the man snapped, thrusting out his hand with each 'HA'.

"Man, these guys are good," Hunk said in awe and Mari could only roll her eyes.

"It can't be…" Allura suddenly muttered, frowning at the control panel screen.

"What is it?" the mustached man asked, diverting his attention to Allura and away from Lance.

"We've been asleep for _ten thousand_ years!" she exclaimed with mortification. "Planet Altea and all the other planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization…"

The mustached man—Coran—looked crushed and Allura seemed to be on the verge of tears. Mari frowned sadly as she watched the last two Alteans; she knew what it felt like to be alone, but at least there were other humans to reach out to. These two aliens only had each other now, their entire species having been wiped out.

Allura grit her teeth in anger, her sadness turning to rage. "Zarkon…" she hissed, and Shiro's face contorted in fear.

"Zarkon?" he repeated, looking to Allura for an explanation.

"He was the king of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people!" Allura spat in disgust.

"I remember now…" Shiro said grimly. "I was his prisoner."

"He's still alive?" Allura asked in dismay. "Impossible!"

"I can't explain it, but it's true," Shiro assured her. "He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron."

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him," Allura explained. "And that is exactly why we must find it before he does."


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Thanks so much for the reviews, favs, and follows! It makes me so happy and excited that people actually like my writing!

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

As Allura went to work restarting the castle's systems, Coran fretted over her anxiously. A plate of bright green goo that he'd retrieved from the kitchen just moments ago was floating next to him and he gestured to it encouragingly.

"Princess, you must eat," he urged her. "It's been ten thousand years."

"I'm not hungry," Allura murmured sadly, her focus never wavering from the control panel.

"Man, ten thousand years?" Lance mused. "That's like one thousand plus ten."

"Oh. My gosh, Lance," Mari sighed in disbelief, placing one hand on her forehead as if she had an oncoming headache. With his flirtatious nature and his air-headed comments, he was getting to be too much for her. She wondered how much more of him she could take before she completely lost her cool.

"That's… _times_ ten," Keith muttered, unafraid to correct him.

"Whatever, dropout," Lance growled and Keith just glared back in response.

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving," Hunk piped up miserably, diverting the topic of discussion back to food once more.

"Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times," Pidge said.

"Hmm…" Hunk mulled over this fact for a could few seconds before saying, "Good point."

He dug into the plate of alien food goo and ate it curiously. His face immediately contorted in disgust and he hesitated before eating more of it, only to grimace in dismay once more.

"What does it taste like?" Mari asked, smiling slightly as she watched Hunk cringe with each bite.

"Blandness," he retorted after swallowing another mouthful. "Horrible, horrible blandness. There's hardly any flavor in it at all."

"Then why are you still eating it?" she raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Hey, food is food," Hunk shrugged. "And I'm hungry."

"Anyways…" Shiro said slowly, turning away from the sight of Hunk devouring the green goo to face Coran and Allura. "I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago. It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was," Coran nodded wistfully. "But, it's gone now and we're the last Alteans alive."

He and Allura shared a sad look before embracing each other for comfort. Just as the princess began to weep mournfully, an abrupt squeaking noise emitted from one of the empty pods. Her ears twitching at the noise, Allura brushed the tears away and moved over to her old sleeping chamber to find four colorful Altean mice peering up at her from inside the bottom of the pod.

"Looks like we're not the last, after all," she beamed as they squeaked cheerfully in greeting.

Suddenly, a blaring alarm emitted from the control panel and a warship identical to the one the Blue Lion had fought earlier appeared on screen.

"A Galran battleship has set its tracker to us!" Coran dreadfully relayed to the group.

"How did they find us?" Allura exclaimed, scooping up the mice and approaching the control panel.

"I'm not sure," Lance said suspiciously. "But I bet it's Keith's fault."

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better," Keith glowered at him. "After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"

"I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Lance fired back and the two boys looked ready to throw down.

"Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team," Shiro reprimanded, quickly placing himself between the two teenagers. Then turning to Coran he said, "How long before they arrive?"

"At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two…" Coran muttered, counting on his fingers. "I'd say probably a couple of days."

"Good. Let them come!" Allura's eyes narrowed in angry determination. "By the time they get here, five of you will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

* * *

"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force," Coran explained as he and Allura led the humans onto the bridge, the central control room of the castle. "She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts."

Allura stepped onto a raised platform in the center of the room and a large crystal embedded in the ceiling above her glowed to life, surrounding her in a gentle beam of blue light. With a flick of her hands, a holographic map of stars and planets engulfed the entirety of the room for everyone to see.

"These are coordinates," Pidge realized, frowning as the image of another lion floated past him. "The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion."

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage," Coran grinned in approval and the human boy just gave him an unamused look.

"Very observant," Allura smiled knowingly. "That's because the Black Lion is in the castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present," Coran said.

"As you have found, the lions choose their pilots," Allura explained. "It's a mystical bond that cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.

"The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, will pilot the Black Lion," she continued, moving the holographic lion in question towards him. "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion—"

"Whoa, hold up, let me guess," Lance interrupted, a confident smirk on his face. "It takes the most handsome slash best pilot of bunch?"

"If that were the case, then Keith would be piloting the Blue Lion," Mari muttered and Lance looked like he had been slapped in the face.

"What?! You can't really think Mullet here is better looking than me!" he exclaimed, pointing at an unfazed Keith.

"I can't say much for his looks, but from what I've heard it seems like he's a better pilot by far. I mean, he _was_ the best in his class at the Garrison before he was kicked out, right?" she said, giving Lance a challenging grin as he scowled at her.

"Ahem," Allura quickly intervened before Lance could respond. "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. Hunk, as the leg of Voltron you must be able to lift the team up and hold them together.

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. It's pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts and skill alone. That being said…" Allura paused, glancing hesitantly between Keith and Mari, unsure of which would be more suited for the task of piloting the lion.

A surge of hope coursed through Mari and her heart leapt in excitement. This was her chance to become a pilot, to explore space! She would be overjoyed if Allura chose her—she could finally live out her dream and become more than just "Takashi's little sister". But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she shouldn't be the Red Lion's pilot.

Unlike Keith, Mari had zero flight experience. She hadn't even gotten the chance to try her hand at the Garrison's flight simulator. There was no way she could successfully pilot "the most difficult to master" lion when she hadn't even set foot in a primitive Earth craft. No, she couldn't do it. It would be better for everyone—for the universe, really—if she wasn't chosen.

Sighing sadly to herself, Mari forced a smile and said, "Keith's got to do it."

Everyone looked to her in surprise, and Shiro frowned, taking immediate notice of her crestfallen demeanor. "Mari…are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Keith's had a lot more flight experience than I have. And if the Red Lion is really that challenging to control then it would be best for the team if he was its pilot…Plus, he's much more of an instinctive hothead than I am."

Keith shot her an irritated glare that read, _'You didn't have to add that last part!'_ and Mari simply smirked back at him teasingly.

"A sound judgement," Allura smiled slightly in approval. "Keith, you will fly the Red Lion then. Unfortunately, I cannot locate its coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After ten thousand years, it might need some work."

"Don't worry. We'll find it soon," Coran reassured them. "They don't call me 'The Coranic' for nothing. That's because it sounds like 'mechanic'. So…Coranic, mechanic. It's not—It doesn't sound… _exactly_ like it, but it's similar."

The mini holographic lions that had been hovering in the air suddenly roared and ran to meet each other, combining to form one large humanoid robot.

"Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe!" Allura declared.

"Awesome!" Lance cheered.

"Wait. Okay, we're gonna be in there and flying lions. Got that part," Hunk began. "How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this gonna be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?"

"We don't have much time," Shiro said, giving the Alteans no time to answer Hunk's inquiries. "Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, Mari, you stay here. If you locate the Red Lion, go get it."

"In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defenses ready," Allura decided. "They'll be sorely needed."

"I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so you can reach the Green Lion," Coran volunteered and everyone split up to perform their assigned tasks.

"Hey," Shiro said, pulling Mari aside before he left. "That was a tough decision, stepping down like that."

"Yeah, well," Mari shrugged halfheartedly. "It was the most logical choice."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" she said, giving him a strained smile but looking him in the eye nonetheless.

She was obviously still upset and Shiro couldn't help but switch to consoling big brother mode. "Mari…"

"I said I'll be fine!" she suddenly huffed, pulling away from him. "You don't need to worry about me."

Shiro frowned at her in dismay. What was going on with Mari? She seemed…different somehow. After she had recovered from the initial shock of his return, Shiro began to notice that she had become much more guarded around him. She had been careful with her words, giving him an incredibly vague review of what he'd missed in the past year that he was gone. And now she was hiding her true feelings from him. This slight change in her was subtle and would've gone unnoticed by anyone else, but Shiro was her older brother; he knew her better than anybody and he could always tell when something was amiss.

What had happened to her the year he was gone?

"Isn't Pidge waiting for you?" Mari snapped him out of his thoughts. "You said it yourself: 'We don't have much time'. Hurry up and get going before he leaves without you."

Shiro hesitated, wanting to say more, but he knew she was right. They needed to find the lions and form Voltron as soon as possible, preferably before that Galran warship arrived. He'd have to deal with whatever was going on with his little sister later.

"This discussion isn't over, Mariko," he said, turning to leave the bridge and follow Pidge and Coran to the pod hangar.

"There's nothing to discuss," she muttered, her back to him as he left.

Once Shiro and the rest of the group had disappeared out of sight, Keith sidled up beside a brooding Mari. A smirk on his face, he said snidely, " _I'm_ the hot-headed one?"

"Shut up," she pouted.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

Waiting for the others to return, Mari quietly stood in front of one of the bridge's large windows, gazing out at the foreign planet the castle currently resided on. Everything from the vegetation, to the blue skies, to the mountains in the distance resembled Earth's landscape and atmosphere; it was almost hard to believe that she was actually trillions of miles away from home.

Home…Mari bit her lip at the thought of it. She could only imagine how her parents looked right now: her father sitting on the steps, eyes glued to the front door as he waited for her to come home; her mother pacing back and forth in the kitchen and anxiously hovering around the landline, expecting a call from her daughter at any moment. Mari had promised them she'd be home before curfew. But that was before they had found Shiro and gotten themselves launched into space. In Earth time, she supposed she had been missing for almost a full day now.

Feeling slightly guilty, Mari pulled out her phone and skimmed through her contacts until she found the one she was seeking. She pressed the home number only for another window to pop up that stated: NO CONNECTION.

"You seriously thought that would work?" Keith wondered, coming to stand beside her.

"No," she huffed, frowning as she stuffed the device back into her pocket. "I'm just… _worried_ , I guess."

Keith was silent for a moment, staring at her grimly as he struggled to find the right words to say. Finally, he sighed and said, "Just…try not to think about it. We've got a lot more important things to be concerned about right now. Like finding the lions and forming Voltron."

"How can I _not_ think about it? My parents are no doubt having heart attacks because their second kid is missing now," Mari snapped, her eyes narrowing at him angrily. "And what's with this 'we' stuff? I have no part to play in forming Voltron _or_ battling Zarkon."

"Nevertheless, Mari, you were brought here for a reason," Coran suddenly piped up from his control panel, having listened in on their entire conversation thus far. "Even if you won't be piloting a lion, your destiny is to be a part of Team Voltron."

"And what exactly does 'destiny' envision me doing on this team?" Mari raised an unconvinced eyebrow at him.

"No one can know for sure," he admitted solemnly. "But despite what you may think, I am positive you have a significant role to play in our fight against the Galra."

"Right…" she drawled dryly and averted her gaze back to the window.

From the center of the room, Allura frowned sadly and took a steadying breath before smiling in the Earthling's direction.

"I must say, I am relieved there's another girl here," she said, the new change of topic causing Mari to turn towards her. She skeptically stared at the princess for a moment before smiling slightly.

"Same here," Mari said. "Working with _just_ guys would've been a pain, I imagine."

Allura beamed in approval and Keith just rolled his eyes. Seconds later, Shiro and Pidge returned, followed by Lance and Hunk.

"You made it," the princess sighed in relief as the team gathered around the center of the room.

"Yeah, just barely," Lance complained. "That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!"

"Think how I felt. I _am_ Hunk," Hunk groaned.

"Yeah. We had a tough time, too," Pidge said, exchanging a knowing grin with Shiro.

"Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Shiro asked.

"Allura just located it," Coran replied. "There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. The bad new is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!"

"They're here already?" Shiro exclaimed.

"Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off," Coran admitted. "Finger counting is—it's more of an art than a science."

The large holoscreen at the front of the room suddenly activated and the image of a Galran soldier came into focus. Glaring hostilely a them, he gruffly announced, "Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I _will_ destroy your planet."

The transmission ended and the screen shut off, casting everyone into shocked silence for a good few moments.

"All right, let's not panic," Shiro began, but Hunk cut him off.

"Not panic? Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four lions—"

"Technically, only three working lions," Pidge piped up.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge," Hunk frowned, not sounding grateful in the slightest. " _Three_ working lions and a castle that's, like, ten thousand years old!"

"Actually it's ten thousand six hundred years old," Coran corrected him. "You see, it was built by my grandfather—"

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that," Hunk quickly intervened before the Altean could elaborate any further. "See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

"Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate!" Allura exclaimed.

"Girl, you've already activated my par—" Lance began, but Shiro gave him an unamused look, cutting him off with a stern, "Lance!"

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever," Coran noted, bringing up a blueprint of a typical Galran warship. "The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Panic now?" Hunk asked and Shiro shook his head.

"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action," Shiro said. "And figure it out quickly."

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day," Lance suggested.

"I second that," Hunk agreed. "Yes, I mean, we tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about!"

"Then it's settled," Lance decided, moving closer to Allura and Mari. "Girls, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy."

"I'd rather die before I ride with you again," Mari muttered darkly and Lance gave her an offended look.

"We can't just abandon Arus," Pidge said. "The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them!"

"Okay. If we run then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth," Hunk proposed. "We can form the snake-worm thingamajig and we _SSSSS_ out of here!"

"Sendak could destroy the planet and come after us anyway," Keith pointed out. "Staying is our only option."

"Here's an option: shut your quiznak!" Lance snapped at him, and Allura and Coran looked appalled.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith glared at Lance.

"What do you know, Mullet?" Lance scoffed back and both boys looked ready to rumble.

"We're staying!" Keith shouted.

"Leaving!" Lance insisted.

"Staying!" Pidge pitched in.

"Snake!" Hunk voted.

"Will you guys just shut up so we can figure this out?!" Mari yelled, her patience depleted. The boys stepped away from each other reluctantly, frowning in anger.

"Princess Allura," Shiro said, taking advantage of the momentary silence. "These are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do _you_ think is the best course of action?"

* * *

After Allura had consulted with what remained of her father's being, she had come to a decision: they would stay and fight.

"You five paladins were brought here for a reason," she stated, having changed out of her dress into a one-piece space suit. "The Voltron lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. _We_ are the universe's only hope."

"We're with you, princess," Shiro confirmed for the team.

Allura led everyone to another dark room of the castle and the lights flickered on to reveal five uniforms residing in cases along the far wall.

"Your suits of armor," the princess explained and the boys stared at their new attire in awe.

"Princess, are you sure about this?" Coran whispered to her unsurely. "They aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer."

"No…" Allura agreed hesitantly. "But they're all we've got."

"Boys, it's time to suit up!" Shiro instructed and they looked to their leader in excited consent.

While they donned their new attire and were given their bayards, Mari put on the spare space suit that Allura had presented to her. Pulling her black hair up into a sloppy bun, she briefly inspected herself in the mirror before nodding in approval.

"Whoa, you clean up nice," Lance whistled as she returned from changing. "That suit's very slimming."

"What, are you saying I looked fat before?" Mari huffed in dismay.

"W-what? No! No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" he stammered, his grin falling away as her glare deepened.

"If you didn't have armor on and a laser gun in your possession, I'd punch you," she grumbled.

"It was meant to be a compliment!" Lance insisted but Mari ignored him.

"No weapon for you?" she asked Shiro, noticing how he was the only paladin lacking a bayard.

"It was lost with the Black Lion's last paladin," he explained.

"You gonna be okay?"

"I'll make do," he assured her. "I'm more worried about you though. You don't have a weapon either. And I'm not sure your martial arts skills will be enough."

Mari couldn't help but grin excitedly. "Oh, don't worry," she said. "Allura's set me up with this."

She unclipped the short metal rod that hung on her hip and pressed the button on the side, causing it to immediately elongate into a sleek staff.

"Whoa!" Hunk gasped in awe.

"A bo staff?" Shiro observed as Mari took a defensive position.

"With a retractable blade," she nodded, pressing another button that prompted a thin blade to extend from one end of the weapon. She twirled the staff and slashed invisible enemies in the air a few times before grinning in satisfaction. "Oh, yeah. This'll work just fine."


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

"You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship," Allura explained once everyone once had returned to the bridge.

"That's a pretty big ship," Keith observed, staring at the blueprints of the Galra cruiser that were displayed on screen. "How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?"

"Well, it's not a matter of 'we'. It's a matter of 'you'," Pidge said, smiling slightly.

"Pidge is right," Hunk nodded. "Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and, like, track it down."

"Yeah," Lance said. "You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?"

"Yeah. You made fun of me for that," Keith said dryly.

"And I'm proud of that," Lance grinned. "But turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo."

"Keith, remember: the Red Lion is extremely temperamental," Allura said. "You'll have to earn its respect."

"Good luck, hothead," Mari nudged him in the ribs and he gave her an unamused look.

"Mari, you're going with him," the princess added.

"What?!" Mari and Keith exclaimed in unison before frowning at one another in dismay.

"Why?" she asked. "I thought I was staying here."

"It's just a precautionary measure," Allura assured her lightly, but everyone could read between the lines: _It's just in case the Red Lion ends up choosing you instead of Keith._

* * *

With Lance and Hunk piloting their lions and acting as the distraction, Pidge, Shiro, Keith, and Mari snuck aboard Sendak's ship using the Green Lion. Maneuvering quietly and quickly down the dimly lit corridors of the enemy cruiser, the four Earthlings wondered where the Red Lion was being held. Turning a corner, Shiro suddenly stopped, causing the others to come to an abrupt halt. Staring down the empty hallway, he suddenly gasped and everyone jumped in alarm.

"Geez…" Mari whispered, a hand clutching her chest. "Don't do that all of a sudden!"

"I…I've been here before," Shiro slowly realized. "After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off of Kerberos. They brought us here."

"What? Are you sure?" she asked and he nodded grimly in confirmation.

"So, that means your other crew members, they might be held captive here," Pidge exclaimed hopefully. "We…We've got to rescue them!"  
"Pidge, we don't have time," Shiro said regretfully. "We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus."

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge shot back angrily.

"Look, no one understands that more than me," he tried to console their youngest team member. "But in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving."

"No!" Pidge suddenly snapped, his voice creating an echo in the empty hall. "Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos mission with you."

"Commander Holt is your _father_?" Shiro repeated in disbelief.

"Yes," Pidge promised. "I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm _not_ going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!"

Pidge turned to leave the group, but Shiro quickly stopped him saying, "I'm coming with you."

"What?" Keith and Mari intoned in unison.

"I remember where the prisoners are held," Shiro continued. Then turning to them he said, "You two go find the Red Lion."

"By ourselves?" Keith frowned unsurely.

"It's a minor change of plans, but you'll be fine," Shiro hurriedly reassured them. "Besides, you've worked together before. Just remember: Patience yields focus. Got it?"

Keith and Mari exchanged a sour look before nodding reluctantly. "Got it."

* * *

"Keith, you've been making us walk around in circles!" Mari hissed in frustration as the duo stumbled upon the same fork-in-the-hallway for what was probably the fourth time.

"Me?" he scoffed. "I was following _you_!"

"I wasn't leading!" she snapped back. "Why would I lead when you're the Red Paladin? _You're_ supposed to be taking us to the Red Lion not me. Can't you sense it or whatever?"

"Maybe I could if you weren't nagging me!"

"Oh, don't blame your incompetence on me!"

Voices and heavy footsteps from down the hall suddenly interrupted their argument, and the two quickly dove behind a corner.

"Okay," Keith muttered to himself, trying to catch his breath. "Patience yields focus."

He closed his eyes in concentration and Mari stared at him with one raised eyebrow, impressed with Shiro's influence over him. When his eyes reopened, he grinned in success.

"I know where it is," he said, gesturing for her to follow. "This way!"

After running down several more corridors, the pair finally stumbled upon the hangar where the Red Lion was being held. Like the Blue Lion, the Red one was surrounded by a protective forcefield, inactive until the right paladin came along.

"Bingo," Keith smirked and Mari folded her arms over her chest as she watched him step closer to the lion. He touched the forcefield expectantly, waiting for it to dissolve and let him inside.

"Let's get out of here. Open up," he said. When nothing happened, he frowned in confusion and added, "It's me, Keith. Your buddy." When the Red Lion still remained immobile, he spoke even louder, "It's me! Keeeiiith, your—I AM YOUR PALADIN!"

"Yes, and that is exactly how you earn a giant metallic cat's respect," Mari announced dryly. "You just have to yell at it."

Keith scowled at her and stepped back from the lion. "You try then," he huffed, gesturing to the forcefield.

"Fine," she shrugged, moving closer. "It's not going to work though."

She placed a hand on the barrier and it rippled beneath her touch. But as she had expected, the forcefield remained intact. "See?" she said. "Nothing hap—Look out!"

She yanked Keith to the side just as a scorching laser pierced the air where his head had been moments before. Several patrolling Galra sentries had found them and began pelting them with purple blasts of energy. Summoning his shield, Keith quickly covered himself and Mari from the endless fire. The duo immediately held their weapons at the ready, and as soon as there was an opening they charged the enemy troops. They managed to cut a few down, but they clearly weren't used to real combat situations and were thrown back in seconds.

"What are we gonna do?" Mari muttered, holding her spear defensively as the Galran soldiers approached.

"Activate your mask and hold onto something solid," Keith suddenly advised.

"What?" she exclaimed just as Keith slammed his fist into the nearby control panel. The hangar doors suddenly opened and all the Galran sentries were sucked out into space while Keith and Mari hung onto the panel for dear life.

"Shut it!" she shouted over the din of rushing air and debris. She could feel her fingers beginning to slip, her grip on the panel no match for the vacuum of space. "Shut it _NOW_!"

But before Keith could even try reaching for the button to close the hangar doors, Mari completely lost her hold on the panel. A curt scream escaped her lips as she felt her body being pulled backwards by the intense force, but before she could be completely flung out of the ship, Keith turned and grabbed onto her hand, abruptly stopping her from being hurled into space.

"I won't…let you…go!" Keith grunted through gritted teeth, struggling to hold onto both Mari and the control panel.

"You'd better not!" she shrilled back.

Larger chunks of debris had begun whirling around the hangar and several miscellaneous pieces of scrap metal hit the two teens as they hung on for dear life. One large fragment hit Keith square in the face and he lost his grip on the control panel. The teens screamed as they were pulled out of the ship, both vulnerable and unable to control their movements as they floated through the inky blackness of space

 _This is it_ , Mari thought vaguely to herself. _I'm gonna die here out in space, the one place I've wanted to go to all this time. How freaking cruel is that?_

Suddenly, the Red Lion came out of nowhere and time seemed to slow as it opened its jaws and swallowed the two Earthlings whole. Mari and Keith were thrown into the cockpit of the lion and they groaned as they pulled themselves off the floor.

"Let's never do _that_ again," Mari gasped, leaning heavily against the wall for support as her legs shook.

"Let's never talk about it either," Keith groaned and she nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Well, at least we finally got the Red Lion," she sighed. "Mission accomplished, I guess. Now, take us back to the castle, hothead!"

Keith couldn't help but smile wryly and he sat down in the pilot's seat. "Let me show you what a real pilot can do," he said, grinning as he took the control sticks. "Let's roll!"


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's note: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

* * *

Back at the castle, the lions and their paladins gathered in the hangar that held the head of Voltron—the Black Lion. It was released from its chamber and it roared to life, the other four lions howling in response.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Allura cheered in relief as she observed the lions from the bridge with Coran and Mari. But before anyone could truly celebrate, a warning alarm was triggered and an image of Sendak's ship popped up on screen. It was headed straight for them on Arus, its ion cannon fully functional and ready to fire upon the immobile castle.

"Quiznak!" Coran cursed.

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere!" Allura informed the paladins via the communicators in their helmets. "We need Voltron NOW!"  
The five lions flew out of the castle and landed in front of it, but before they could even attempt to form Voltron, Sendak's ship fired its cannon. A searing flash of purple energy slammed into the castle's particle barrier, engulfing the forcefield in sweltering flames and causing the whole building to shake violently. Nearly knocked off her feet, Mari held onto one of the control panels and anxiously stared outside as several Galra fighters emerged from the warship, beginning to pelt the the forcefield with laser beams of their own.

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast!" Coran announced as the warning message popped up over his control panel. "Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless!"

"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while," Allura informed the paladins. "But you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!"

The particle barrier took another hit from the ion cannon and Mari could see how it was beginning to fritz and break down. _Come on, guys_ , she thought to herself, biting her lower lip nervously as she watched the lions spring into action attacking the smaller Galra fighters. They weren't even trying to form Voltron it seemed, and she frowned in dismay. _What are you doing? Pull yourselves together!_

"Quickly paladins!" the princess urged. "Our energy levels are getting low!"

"Wait, look!" Coran suddenly pointed outside. The lions had taken off simultaneously and began to fly in formation towards the Galra battle cruiser. A hopefully grin spread across Allura's face and a smile played on Mari's lips.

"They're doing it," Allura murmured excitedly to herself. "They're—"

Suddenly, all five of the lions froze in midair as Sendak's tractor beam caught them. Mari face palmed angrily and she growled, "They're trapped _idiots_!"

Another blast from the ion cannon soared towards the castle, completely obliterating the particle barrier upon impact, and Allura, Mari, and Coran were thrown off their feet. From the control panel, they could hear the paladins beginning to despair.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Hunk screamed relentlessly.

"It can't end here!" Pidge yelled in frustration.

"This is it!" Lance cried out in defeat.

"It's been an honor flying with you boys!" Keith said grimly.

For gosh sakes! Why were they giving up so quickly?

"SHUT UP!" Mari suddenly shouted, her blood boiling as she scrambled to her feet and stomped over to the panel. "Just shut up, you morons! Don't say such stupid things! Think of how much we've already accomplished already! Are you really gonna throw all that away and give up so easily? _You're_ the chosen paladins, the Defenders of the Universe! YOU. ARE. VOLTRON! So stop your whining and get off your lazy butts. Just _FIGHT_ already!"

The paladins were silent for a moment and Mari worried that she hadn't gotten through to them. Finally Shiro chuckled, "There's the Mari I know."

Then addressing the other paladins, he said, "She's right, guys. Come on, we can do this! We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We're the universe's only hope. _Everyone_ is relying on us. We _can't_ fail! We _won't_ fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"

"Yeah!" the others cheered, their determination and courage having been renewed. The lions roared in response to their pilots' in sync emotions and their eyes glowed as they began to come together and transform, combining into one gigantic robot.

Moving swiftly, the robot quickly pushed the warship's ion cannon out of the way, causing the blast that was aimed towards the castle to completely miss its mark. It then proceeded to rip off the hefty piece of artillery and punch straight through the ship. The Red Lion fired a blast into the craft's interior before the process was repeated again with the Green Lion, setting off a series of blazing explosions that tore the enemy battleship up from the inside. Delivering the final blow, the entire robot shot straight through the engine, causing it and the rest of the cruiser to explode completely.

Allura and Coran stared in awe and relief as the metal man landed and stood victorious in front of the castle.

" _Now_ they did it," Mari grinned in approval. "They formed Voltron."

* * *

"Good work, paladins!" Allura exclaimed as she, Mari, and Coran hurried out of the castle to meet the five exhausted boys.

"Thanks, pretty lady," Lance beamed. "So, Mari. What did you think of me out there, fighting as Voltron?"

"I have to admit, you were pretty impressive. For a leg anyways," she smiled.

"We did it," Shiro said, as if he couldn't believe it himself.

"Heck yeah, we did," Keith grinned, removing his helmet.

" _How_ did we do it?" Pidge wondered.

"I was just like, screaming the whole time," Hunk beamed giddly. "Maybe that did it."

"Or maybe we just needed some encouragement," Shiro said and he smiled at his little sister knowingly. "Thank you, Mariko."

Her heart leaping with joy and her face slightly flushed from embarrassment, Mari shrugged nonchalantly. "It was no problem, really," she managed. "Someone needed to get you guys moving. I'm just glad I could help."

She grinned proudly and held out a thumbs up to her older brother. Shiro chuckled and ruffled her hair playfully before giving her a thumbs up as well.

A few feet away, Pidge watched them quietly, envy flashing through his brown eyes. Sighing, he put on his glasses and frowned in dissatisfaction, averting his gaze from the happy siblings. Picking up on his demeanor, Shiro turned to the Green Paladin and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We're not gonna stop searching until we find your brother and father," he promised their youngest teammate. "Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you."

"It wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to have my family returned," Mari pitched in. "Don't worry, Pidge. We'll find them no matter what."

Pidge smiled slightly at the Shirogane siblings and nodded, their words having reassured him for the time being.

"We've won the battle, but the war has only just begun," Allura announced in all seriousness, bringing their victory celebration to an end. "I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions."

"Good thing you paladins know what you're doing," Coran tried to remain upbeat. "Because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."

"Totally," Hunk said absentmindedly, clearly still reveling in their triumph and not registering exactly what Coran was implying. A second later, he frowned as he caught on. "Wait, what?"

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time," Lance pouted.

"And you only had to fight one ship!" Coran exclaimed. "Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them!"

The appalled looks on the boys' faces were priceless and Mari couldn't help but laugh. "I guess it's not gonna be easy being the Defenders of the Universe," she chuckled.

"Defenders of the Universe, huh?" Shiro smiled. "That's got a nice ring to it." 

* * *

**Author's note: Ha ha, yay! So this brings an end to the first of many stories with Mariko and the rest of Team Voltron. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed. You all are giving me so much motivation to keep writing and uploading new chapters! I'll post when I can, but I hope you enjoy the rest of my work and continue to follow along with the story :D


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